Gabriel Heimler

Gabriel Heimler and Anna Proc

Gabriel was born in France from Hungarian parents. After attending Art School in Paris he moved to Berlin where he worked as an artist for 20 years until 2010. During his career Gabriel sold through the Ladengalerie in Berlin at other galleries in Europe and at Sotheby's in New York. In Berlin his career started after being asked to join an international group of artists painting murals on the Berlin Wall, after its fall in 1989. His contribution, the 'Wall Jumper' – became well known as an unofficial symbol for Berlin. Gabriel was the youngest artist asked to contribute and his mural portrayed a West German leaping over the wall to the East, ready to buy up the East German state companies (but was mostly misinterpreted as an East German leaping to freedom). Gabriel contributed to the Jewish cultural revival in Berlin and was instigator of the Art Express project, featuring a multinational approach to exhibiting art using public spaces. Many of his paintings express social, historical or religious ideas.

In 2010 with his partner Anna Proc he moved to Wellington where together they have injected a dose of European Modernism into the Wellington art scene.

In Wellington Gabriel together with partner Anna Proc painted a new mural, 'The Mover' on the outside of the Museum Art Hotel for Wellington art supporter and hotel owner Chris Parkin. 'The Mover' celebrates the engineering feat of transporting the hotel on rails to its present location, to make way for the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa. 'The Mover' and 'The Wall Jumper' link Wellington and Berlin through art.

In 2014 both murals were selected by the Lonely Planet Guidebook as landmarks of their respective cities and featured in the Berlin and New Zeland 2014 guidebooks.

Working together Gabriel and Anna have painted several other smaller murals, including two 'Spiritual Portraits' where they tell the story of a business through a mural. 'Human Potential' an internal mural painted for the Wellington IT company I-lign and 'Winds Nest' an internal mural for Wellington air conditioning servicing company Advantage Business Services.

In Wellington Gabriel and Anna have painted a new collection of work, you can view available and sold paintings on this page. Their exhibitions for the Kiwi Art House Gallery include, The Beehive in Cuba St, 2011, Happy Pacifica, 2012, Foxtrot around the Piano, 2013, Shadow in the Bush, 2014, Inside View, 2015.

Please click here for a short video inspired by 'Shadow in the Bush' exhibition 2014